VR and Storytelling at Tribeca Film Festival 2019
Metaverse
5 minutes read
The 18th annual Tribeca Film Festival is now taking place in New York City, celebrating independent filmmaking and artists. This year, at Tribeca Immersive, the festival is showcasing an impressive lineup of 30 AR/VR titles. With leading VR creators in the industry premiering their latest titles at Tribeca, the festival highlights how some of the best experiences are created at the intersection of storytelling and technology.
At Vive, we are dedicated to championing immersive cinematic VR experiences and delight in seeing the industry continue to grow and evolve. We are supporting five partners at Tribeca this year, all who are elevating the genre with their outstanding new content:
A collaboration between HTC VIVE and Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival Executive Committee, 5×1 is a cinematic VR series comprised of five short films. Directors Hou Hsiao Hsien and Liao Ching-Sung served as executive producers of this project, providing guidance to five up-and-coming directors. Mr. Buddha, directed by Lee Chung, is one part of the five-part series.
“The short crime story takes place in a car, following Dong-Tzu, Ching-Tsai, and Ni-Sang, who get their hands on a valuable antique only to have the fruits of their labor shared with the newcomer, A-Che.”
Doctor Who: The Runaway – BBC/Passion Animation Studios
From the team behind Doctor Who Series 11, Doctor Who: The Runaway is a beautiful, animated, interactive story that brings you inside the TARDIS. The new immersive experience features Jodie Whittaker and Richard Elfyn.
“You’ve been in a collision. You wake inside the TARDIS. The Doctor introduces you to the person, or thing, you collided with. He’s a strange and magnificent ball of living energy called Volta. Part surly teenager, part bomb, Volta is very unstable. In fact, he’s primed to explode. Big time. Unless he can be returned to his home planet, sharpish. The problem is, a squad of galactic busybodies has other plans for Volta. Bad ones. Drawn into a frantic chase, you become the Doctor’s unlikely assistant as she races against time to get Volta home to his parents. Armed with a sonic screwdriver, it is down to you to help the Doctor as she faces the forces of evil, and teenage angst, in this animated 13-minute VR adventure from the team behind Doctor Who Series 11.”
Future Dreaming – Directed by Sutu
Future Dreaming was inspired by the ancient Australian Aboriginal practice of Dreamtime, the visualization technique where you can see your spirit move through the past, present and future. Over the course of a few months the young protagonists – Ali Lockyer, Maverick Eaton, Nelson and Maxie Coppin – collaborated with VR artist Sutu to design their Future Dreaming in the limitless creation space of Virtual Reality. Once their worlds were designed, they employed motion capture technology to animate their avatars to tell their story and guide visitors through their creation.
“In this immersive VR experience, you will step into a time-warping dream bubble as four young Aboriginal Australians guide you through their futures. Be ready for an intergalactic adventure. Look out for the space emus!”
Ayahuasca: Kosmik Journey directed by Jan Kounen – Atlas V, a_BAHN and Small Studio
Making its world premiere at Tribeca, Ayahuasca: Kosmik Journey is an 18-minute immersive voyage through one of the most mysterious spiritual practices on the planet. Using the headset’s tracking capabilities, the interactive experience will keep track of a user’s movement and react accordingly.
“Participants are immersed in visions triggered by a dose of ayahuasca. The spectator lives this through director Jan Kounen’s eyes as he travels on a spiritual voyage.”
7 Lives is a 20-25 minute interactive experience that explores shared emotional connections and memories in VR.
“An afternoon in June. Tokyo. 5 p.m. A girl jumps in front of the subway. Her soul rises from the rails. On the platform, the witnesses of the scene are in shock. It revived a trauma in them, painful memories they never overcame.”
All of these experiences can be seen at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, taking place from April 24 – May 5 in lower Manhattan. Make sure to stay tuned as these immersive, cinematic experiences head to Viveport soon!
